Explosive-engine.



No. 670,3". Patented Mar. l, mol.'

E. CUHVISIER.

EXPLOSIVE ENGINE.

.(Application led June 10, 1899.)

(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet I.

l 164mm 4.19 0

0,5 @si 0,5 ear e? 0,75 e@ au' Zll/eddfd.' '-"yde'yo fr .No. 670,3". Patented Mar. I9, I 90l..

. E. CUURVUISIER.

EXPLOSIVE ENGINE.

(Application iled Jyma 10, 1899.)

(No Model.)` 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

Kv im nr'rs STATES EUGENE conWeisheit, or BIENNE, sw1TzERnAND.

' EXPLOSNLENGINE.

srncmca'non part f. Letters-Patenten. 670,311, agits march 1e, 190i.

Appleman mea Im 1o,j1-s9. seriainarzcosz. 'un modem' .Y

To a/ZZ it may Concern).- i

-Be it li'nown that I, EUGNE CoURvoIsIER,

f a lcitizen of Switzerland, residingat Bienne, Switzerland, have invented certain newand .useful Improvements in Explosive-Engines; and I do hereby declarethe followingto be a 7full,' clean-and exact descriptionof the invention, such as will enable others's'killed in the art to which it appertainsv to make and use the same. -v

My vinvention relates Vto improvements .in explosive-engines, and in particular to such explosive-enginesv as are used for the propulsion of vehicles. I

It is well knownthat the power required to propel a vehicle under ordinary conditions is much lessthan is necessary to star'tsuch a Vehicleffrom a condition 'of rest or to drive it' up hills orover portions of the roadway which equipping a v ehicle'withanexplosiveengine for propelling it to proportion the engine, so thatA it is capable of developing the maximum amount of power which will at any time be required from it. As the demand-on the engine for such maximum amount of power is made usually only at infreqnr'antintervals,l the engine is employed during a-large part of Athe time et its operation in supplying but a.

portion of its'l maximum power, and consequently the engine -is-largerthan necessary for its ordinary or usual-work. Being larger it is also heavier, and asa result .is'compelled to furnish the additional power required to propel 'its surplus Weight at such times.

It is the object of my invention to avoid the above-mentioned disadvantages by enabling the engine to be proportioned as to size and weight so that under ordinary conditions it will be working 'atits usual-full capacity, and yet when Vthe occasion demands1 usual manner by the repeated explosions of any ordinary mixture of` atmospheric air and "gas orv other fuel 'and having. in addition'- lueans for supplying oxygen or thelike to the 'airand gas mixture, whereby thegeuergy' are rougher than usual. Hence it is usual inv of the mixture is. increased to such aliexte'nt that by its use ,the engine will give an abnor mal power.-I 1

' While I have particularly pointed out here'- inabove' the disadvantages ol the usual explosive-.engines for driving" vehicles, it. will .be obvious thatcorresponding disadvantages result' even with other explosive engines where the same are expected to supply at in; tervals a maximum power in' excess of the amount usually required. Consequently under'snch circumstances also my 4invention is applicable with advantage.l

. '65. As is well known, the ordinary explosive' engine is operated by the ignition lin its cyl-L inder of a lnixtn're'oomposed-ofa hydrocarbon 'and atmospheric air, the latter servinga as an' oxidizer ofthe hydrocarbon. :lin an engine of a given sizethe pewterv can he varied from zero to a certain' maximum `amount by the ad mission of more or less of the air-.and hydrecarbon mixture tothe cylinder or by avariation in the proportion of hydrocarbonpsnpf plied to a givenquantity of ai'r; but the maximum amount of hydrocarbon', and. thereby-V also the maximum' 'powerof the engine, is

lim'ited vhy the size of the enginef'cylinder, be-- cause the maximum amount of air which the cylinder will receivecan `oxidize completely only 4a fixed maxim um amount. of' hyd rocar bon. If a greater quantity-of hydrocarbon ,than this maxi m'umhe fed to the cylinder, the surplus will not be burned and adds nothing' to the power of the engine; It is well-known. that in the atmospheric air suppliedto the cylinder only'the oxygen which it contains.-

vz., about 0.2356 parts, 'by weight--serves in the combustion of the hydrocarbon, the re'- mainder-viz., 0.7644, which is nitrogen-being inert. lf now-instead of a certain weight of ordinary atmosphericvair the same weight of a mixture of arand oxygen befed to the cylinder with the hydroe'arbonya greater weight of 'the latter-can be oxidized :com-

since such a mixture of air and oxygen con- `pletely thah by the use of ythe ordinary air, 'A

-l OO the quantity of oxygen in the oxidizing mixture it becomes possible to increase the power of the engine within certain limits, so that the's'ame engine will give-a greater maximum power than it can with 'the use of ordinary air alone as the oxid-izing agent.' Consequently by the provisionof means forpermitting'an increase in theoxidizing' effect of theoxidiziug mixture it becomes possible to proportion the engine so that when doing its ')ormal work it will be running at its maximum capacity,

,with ordinary air asl the oxidizingvagent, and

whenthe demand occurs for an increase of powerthe means for permitting an increase in 'the `oxidizing eiect ofthe air maybe brought into use, and thereby the power of the vengine increased to meet suchdemand.

hereimtften A onevformjof explosive-engine embodying my My invention will now-be more specifically vvdescribed .in connection with the accompanyingdrawings'and then particularly pointed out'in the claims. 1

' 'In'v thedrawings, Figure 1 represents a theoreticalindicator-diagram based upon the use of'one kilogram of a combustible mixture, which diagram will be more fully explained Fig. 2 is a transverse sectionof invention. o

Referring to Fig. 1, it will b'e assumed first that the engine is wrkingwith ordinary atmospheric The combustiblefmixture of air and hydrocarbon is assumed to be drawn into the cylinder at centi-grade (293 absoluteland at atmospheric pressure. It is -thereupon compressed adiabatically to 2,1 atmospheres, whereby the temperature -rises to 93 centigrade, '(366ov absolute.) ,.The'u' the mixture is ignited, whereupon the pressure rises -to 4twelve atmospheres andthe tempera-- ture to 1,777" centigrade, (2,050o absolute.) In this explanation it is also assu med that the hydrocarbon is such that-.twenty kilograms 'of-ordinary air are required for the complete combustion of one kilogram ofhydrocarbon and that its heating value is'six thousand ca- 'til lories per, kilogram.' The adiabatic compression iis-indicated by theline 0 1', Fig. l. -The` burned mixture now expands. adiabatical'ly,

as indicated by'the linie 2 3, Fig. 1.A Hence the z Lwork done is represented by thearea O y1,2 3

0, which alsorep'resents the maximum power lof the engine under the conditions above as-V sumed. :'If -now instead of using ordinary' air as the oxidizingmeans a. quantity of air chargedv with such an amount of oxygen' is employed'that the oxygen'forms 0.4712 parts',-

by weight, ofthe oxidizing mixture instead of 0.12356l 'par.ts,as' with l`the ordinary air, then y with this'mixture one-tenth kilogram'of hydrocarbonv can be completely oxidized, instead of only Ione-twentieth kilogram, which was oxidized 'by the ai r alone inv the'fi'rst-mentioned example. With this increase of hydrocarbon there will be an increase intemperature at the time of the ignition of the explosive mixture,

and in theabsence of other modifyingcauses the temperaturewould rise `to 3,284:o centigrade, (3,5570 fabsolutelwhile the pressure ,would rise to about 20.8 atmospheres;l butras -a matterof fact the temperature will scarcely rise above 2,UO0 centigrade, (2,273 a`|osolute' ,)l

fbodying my invention. 'c'ates areceiver forthe oxygen or like enrichging material, from which receiver a conductor 11b leads vto a suctionchamber d through an inlet orreducing valve-C. The suction-cham- Imospheric air tothe suction-chamber. suctionchamber d communicates wlth a cylbecause' above 2,000 centi grade the constitu.-

yent parts of the explosive mixture cannot unite chemically,l and instead at first only so m-uch of the hydrocarbon' will be oxidized as is necessary to produce the dissociation .temperatureof2,000-centigrade; Therefore the, pressure Will beraised to 13.3 atmoslpheresfa's indicated on Fig. 1 by the point 2.

Upon the forward movement of the piston expansion 'takes place, this tending to produce -a coolingfeiect, which causesl the pre- Yviously-uncombined hydrocarbon to unit-e with the remaining oxygen, thischemical a-ction progressing with the expansion, sothat thetemperature is maintained at 2,000 centigrade, and an isothermal expansion results. This-action is indicated by the isothermal line 2' 3', Fig. 1, which line of courseis above the line 2,3, and the area between the said two .lines Aindicates the increase in work' done.

`.will proceed adiabatically, as indicated by the dot-and-dash line 2' 3" in F-ig..";v3. The temperature at the end of the expans'ionwill I.be about 1,557" centigrade, (1,8300 absolute,)

and the`work produced will" be indicated by the area 0 1Y 2 3" o, Fig. 1..

As is well known to those skilled in the art, some of the .combustible materials may be 'consumed by substances other that oxygenfor example, the halogensso that such halogens as chlorin -or bromin may be mixed with air to increase the output of the engine, instead ofusing oxygen, ashereinbefore delscribed..

The oxygen (or its equivalent) may b e kept IOO IIO

under pressure iuase-parate receiver, from I which it may be'fed. to the combustion-chamber of theengine, preferably in sucha manner-as to'be well mixed with the. hydrocarbon and air. They oxidizing material is.- introduced at: mid-right moment-for "example,

during the suction-stroke'of the pistonby an inlet-valve operated by the engine, while byl'a regulating-valve operated either by hand or by a governing device thev quantity of the ioxidizing material .to be admitted at the desired moment 'may be controlled.

In Fig. 2 1 have shown anl 4apparatus em- In thisview, a i-ndiber is provided .with an lair-inlet valve 4 f, which when open permits the entrance of at- The - oxygen or other suitable enriching material to the 'suction-chamber d during this above thehead Z of thehollow spindle of the valve -7z', and thereby causes the said valve h to open. The said valves gaud h are provided with springs g h', as shown, in order to close the same. i the chamber d through the valve j' passes through openings .m and fn, formed int the walls of ithe said Chamber d, as shown', and thus enters the cylindere. air which passes the openings -ntakes up and carries with itself the hydrocarbon admitted 4by the opening of the valve h from the tube z' and'then mingles with that part of the air .which passes through the openings m.

In the ordinary operation of the enginethe above vusual'operatiou is all that lakes place in charging the cylinder with explosive mixture. 1

in order to prevent' the admission of the mentioned ordinary operation and to -allow such enriching material to be 'admitted at will and iu varying quantities when a denmandis made `upon the engine fora power greater than usual, a suitable valvedevice is placed between the receptacle ct and the suction-chamber d. In Eig. 2,1 have shown a p convenient form of such-valve device, in

which c is a valve-stem carrying two valves c c2, oit' 'dierent areas,- as shown, and are i ranged `to b'e received in corresponding valve- S seats formed on opposite sides. of an inward extension of the valve-body, which extensionl is in communication with the conduit b. The upper end of the valve-stem c carries a piston c3, movable in a cylindrical extension of the valve body, a helical spring c4 being connected tothe top of the said piston and to the bottom of ahead formed on the lower end of a screw-threaded rod c5, projecting outside the valve-casing and adjustable in and out by means of a hand-wheelinut c6, located' outside the valve-casing. The head of the rod c5 is splined to the cylindricalextensiou ot the valve-casing in order to prevent its rotation, while'at the same time allowing a longitudinal movement of the rod '05. 'When the hand-wheel nut c6 is screwed up, 'the'7` tension on the spring o4 is increased, and thereby the pressure of the oxygen or similar material in he receptacle a, is enabled to hold the valves c' c2 closed for the reasc-u that the valve c', which opens inward, exposes a larger area to the pressure of the The atmospheric air which enters 4'That part ofthe a suitable fuel as oxidizing or enriching materialthan does the valve c2, whichopens outward. Hence in this condition no enri'f's'hing"V material will be suppliedv to' the suction-cham ber d and the "engine will operate in theordiuary manner o't such engines. When', howev'er, a demand is made upon theengine foragreater power than themaximum it can furnish with air and hydrocarbon mixture,A thehandwheel Y nut cs is u'nscrewed'toinove the rod c5 inward,.

whereby the tension 'on thei spring c4 is relaxed. In this condition -when ,the suctionstroke of the engine occurs the'piston o8 will be forced inward bythe pressure of the ex 1 'tel-nal ai-r,` which is freeto act on the outer surface o f said piston c3 owing tothe factthat the screwfthreaded rod is not packed where it passes through the upper end of. the cylindrical extension of thevalve-body. -lheref fore ateach suction-stroke-of the engine-piston a certain amount of oxygen or the like will be admitted from the receptacle ainto .the slictionichamber d, where it will unite with the atmospheric aire'ntering through the air-inlet valve f, the mixture of air and oxygen'v then passing. to the -en-gine-cylinder, as

' beforeytakin'g up the hydrocarbon on the way.

It will be seen that-the extent to which oxy- `gen or thelike will be admitted depends upon "the tension ofthe springc whichis controlled bythe handwheel nut c6.

sive mixture andthe transmission of power from th'epistou need not be described, as these steps take place. in the vusual manner.

I am aware that the idea of using oxygen,

chlorin, and' "thejlike'as oxidizing' agents for use with hydrogen or hydrocarbons in the production of. power or of employing oxygen,

chlorinyor the like mixedwith atmospheric air for like` purposes is notnew; but inail the disclosures known to me of such use the employment of oxygenv or the like, either alone The ignition and'exhaustion ofthe'exploor with air, as an oxidizing mixture has been suggested as a continuouslone, 'so that great expense would attach to the ordinary opera-l 'tiouof' an engine4 constructed in Laccordance with such disclosures; .thi'sgreat .expense being dueto-the continuous sof Sah oxygen, chlorin, or the like,A

Jj In 'my invention 4the ordinary operation of the" engine takes place, as usual, bythe em# ployment oli the ordinary air as an oxidizer,

while only at intervals 'is' the'oxygen or. the -like employed, the expense of. which intermittent use is not excessive and is more 'than co'unterbalanced by the other considerable advantages obtained which have' been explainedhereinbe'fore. Hence' my invention may be considered'as 'Qnsistinginthe comf means for usingord an explosive mixture, of

auxiliaryy in earsifor supplying a richer coun--` biniggmtiterialyt'm the fuel when-'a power greater; than "the"inaximum obtained lunder usual conditions is. desiredBv .By the term inaryatmospheric air and ,l

lricher combining material for the fuel I oxygen or with a quantity of a' halogen will.

be such a richer combining material, and so also -would be the pure oxygen or halogen.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire t-o secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The Ycombination with an explosive-engine having means for 'employing ordinary air and suitable'fuel as an explosive mixture, of auxiliary means forsupplyinga richer com'- bining material for the fuel. 1

2. The combination with an explosive-engine having means for employing ordinary air and suitable'fnel as au explosive mixture, of auxiliary means for supplying to the said mixture a richer combining material forl the fuel. l

3. The combination with an explosiveen- For example, the

gine having means for employing ordinary air and suitable fuel as an explosive mixture, of an auxiliary receptacle to contain a richer combining material for the fuel, and connec tions between said receptacle and the engine :whereby the contents of said receptacle may be delivered to the engine-cylinder when 'required.

4. The combination with'an explosive-engine having means for employing ordinary air and suitable fuel as an explosive mixture, of an auxiliary receptacle to contain aricher vcombining 'material for the fuel, connections between said receptacle and the engine,wherev4 by the contents of saidl receptacle 'may be .delivered 'to the engine-cylinder, and means for varying the amount th-u's delivered.

In testimony whereof I have aixed my sigl PAUL SCHNEIDER. 

